Sports Ministry asks IOA to create ad-hoc committee for WFI affairs after newly-elected governing council suspended

Three days after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elected a new governing council to run the sport in India, the Union Ministry of Sports directed the body to suspend all activities.

It issued a letter to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to create an ad-hoc committee to manage and control the affairs of the WFI.

In a letter to the IOA, the Sports Ministry wrote, “it is requested that an Ad-Hoc committee may be constituted by the IOA to manage and control the affairs of WFI,… including the selection of athletes, making entries for the participation of sportspersons in international events, holding of sporting activities etc with immediate effect, until further orders.”

The letter stated that it had become “… incumbent on the part of the IOA to make suitable arrangements for the interim period for managing the affairs of the WFI so that sportspersons of wrestling discipline do not suffer in any manner and the principle of good governance in the sports body does not get jeopardised…”

The activities of the WFI had earlier been run by a three-member ad-hoc committee appointed by the IOA after the suspension of the federation following allegations of sexual harassment made against the then president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

The committee ran the activities of the federation until fresh elections were held on December 21 when Sanjay Singh, a close associate of Brij Bhushan was elected as president, beating former Commonwealth Champion Anita Sheoran by 40 votes to 7.

Those results however did not stand for long.

The letter to the IOA was issued citing the newly elected wrestling body’s “hasty announcement” of organising Under-15 and Under-20 national trials “without giving sufficient notice to wrestlers” to prepare.

In a document accessed by Sportstar, the Sports Ministry wrote: “As per clause 3 (e) of the preamble of the constitution of WFI, the object of the WFI, among others, is to arrange holding of Senior, Junior and Sub Junior National Championships as per UWW Rules at places selected by the Executive Committee…”.

“Such decisions are to be taken by the Executive Committee, before which agendas are required to be placed for consideration.”

The document also stated that the newly elected body appears to be in complete control of the previous office bearers, which is “in complete disregard to the Sports Code”.

“The business of the Federation is being run from the premises controlled by former office bearers, which is also alleged premises wherein sexual harassment of the players have been alleged,” the document stated.

The above decision by the new WFI body is said to have violated both the WFI’s constitutional provisions and the National Sports Development Code.